Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Add Rice Tight End Boden Groen + Bball Transfer Target: John Buggs III Shoots 41% From 3!!!

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's a new tight end in town for KU football They add a big one from the transfer portal and another portal target deep dive for KU basketball John bugs the third is one of the best three-point shooters in the entire portal You are locked on Jayhawks your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks Part of the locked on Network, your team every day. Hey, what's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the every dayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are on YouTube where you can like and subscribe. We are free and available wherever

Starting point is 00:00:42 you get your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks we're breaking down a little KU football Bowden Groen a tight end transfer from Rice is going to Kansas to replace Keon Burnett at the tight end position figures to be somebody who could play real snaps for KU this season to break down his game a little bit and also we're getting to another transfer portal deep dive another KU basketball target in John Bugs third who is one of the best three-point shooters that is available in The transfer portal today's episode of the show is brought to you by fan dual sportsbook right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins with fan dual Okay

Starting point is 00:01:22 So let's start with a little KU football. Bowden Groen is a tight end transfer from Rice and Lance Leipold, KU football, was able to reel him in. He committed to KU earlier today. He is a six foot four, 240 pound tight end. He was graded as an 86th graded three star transfer by 24 seven sports and you look at the tight end group for KU after you lost Keon Burnett who figured to be in the running to be a starter at the very least be on the too deep. It left an opening for real playing time now maybe late and cure takes that spot down anyway, but now there's real competition with Bowden growing. Is he going to be on the too deep? Will it be laying cure? You'll feel like if cure earns his way onto the too deep that, you know, he had to beat out a little bit more legit competition than just getting defaulted into the spot. So that's great. You get more competition, you get more depth, you get another possible tight end,

Starting point is 00:02:19 which we know KU likes to use a lot of tight ends. I mean, there's going to be formations where they're going to have three tight ends on the field. If there's any similarities in what the offense has been over the past couple of seasons. So you look at what Groen did or is bringing to the table. He played at modern day high school, which is in Southern California, one of the best consistent high school football programs in Southern California, ended up going to Saddleback College, which is a

Starting point is 00:02:42 junior college, but went there in the year that there was a COVID year and didn't get a season his first year it was just canceled due to COVID. It's like, I don't know how that does that count as the starting of your NCAA clock? I wouldn't think so. I guess, honestly, it doesn't matter either way, right? Because the Juco stuff doesn't count. But then again, it seems like right now you only get one free year from the Juco stuff.

Starting point is 00:03:05 So maybe it'll only count one of the, I don't know how that works. Anyway, he played the next season at Saddleback and he had 14 catches for 152 yards and one touchdown and played his way into a spot on the team at Rice University in the division one level. So 2022 at Rice, his first year there, he goes nine catches for 79 yards.

Starting point is 00:03:29 And then he had his best season in 2023. And I want to say they made a bowl game in 2023. He had 39 catches for 383 yards and three touchdowns. Those are really good numbers for a tight end at the collegiate level. Not a lot of teams are featuring a tight end where they're going to have 800, 1000 yards. There's some special ones that do,

Starting point is 00:03:49 but that's very solid production for him there. So then this past season in 2024, he gets limited by an injury, only plays in four games. Now the four games he had played in, 12 grabs for 94 yards. So he was on pace. If you say, okay okay three catches a game He was averaging you know, I don't know 24 yards per game something like that He would have been on pace for the in a 12 game season At that point in time 36 yard or 36 catches. Excuse me for just under 300 receiving yards on the season

Starting point is 00:04:19 But he comes in with real production that means in total you're talking about a guy who has 60 career catches at the division one level. If you include his Juco stuff, 74 career catches between the two. So, you know, an experienced player in that way. One thing does stick out to me in some of the stats. I mean, 39 catches for 383. So under 10 yards per catch, nine for 79,

Starting point is 00:04:41 his first year there again, under 10 yards per catch. 12 for 94 is last year, again under 10 yards per catch 12 for 94 is last year well under 10 yards per catch. Probably not the biggest burner is what that tells me downfield is probably not like a Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelsey like big play tight end, maybe more of your reliable sure handed underneath catching tight end like a Jason Witten type right? If you're just basing it off a bias from yards per catch, that would be kind of my assumption there. But as far as eligibility goes, I think you assume he's going to be a senior, but honestly, there might be a case here that he can have two years left for you, which would be,

Starting point is 00:05:17 you know, a cherry on top if you're Kansas to get a hit with multiple years. And here's why I think that could be the case. If the COVID year didn't count, the season was canceled. And that his Juco year doesn't count, then theoretically his first year at Rice was this first year of counting to NCAA eligibility. So then 2023 would have been technically his sophomore year. And then this past season would have technically been his junior year. He only played in four games, he could get a red shirt.

Starting point is 00:05:39 So theoretically, even though I think he's gonna be listed as a senior, he might count as a red shirt junior. Kansas might be able to get multiple years out of him, which certainly wouldn't hurt, especially because then technically he'd be like, I don't know, a 24 year old with like two years left to play that certainly wouldn't hurt to have an old man

Starting point is 00:05:58 in the locker room and have that maturity into locker room. That certainly helps in a lot of different ways, but I guess you just play on him being one year. If he gets two, then great. As far as the PFF grades, you know, nothing that sticks out super big. 58.4 grade in 2023 was his best. So, you know, 60 is about average.

Starting point is 00:06:18 So, you know, right around average there. 54.8 this past season, unlimited play. So again, slightly below average there is run block grade. If you're wondering about that, okay. Is he more pass catch or more of a blocker? Run block grade was only 49 in 2023. And then it was a 58.1 in 2024. But I will say, and I've said this before,

Starting point is 00:06:40 the PFF grading system, a lot of times it is giving, the real benefit is the players making splash plays. And so a lot of times it is giving, the real benefit is the players making splash plays. And so a lot of times tight ends blocking, their main objective is gonna be having a double team or just trying to seal an edge. And if you go back and look at like Jared Casey's, you know, run blocking grades, I don't think he ever got fully enough credit

Starting point is 00:07:01 for how important of a run blocker he was for KU if you just look at the PFF grades. So there could be a chance here that Rowan important of a run blocker he was for KU, if you just look at the PFF grades. So there could be a chance here that Groen is a better run blocker than those grades are indicating, just because he's doing his job and it's helping to double team someone. And in the PFF grading scale, which is like,

Starting point is 00:07:16 I think you like lose two points if, or lose one point if you do something really bad and gain two points if you do something really good, gain one point if you do something good. If he's having a double team and he's just taking care of his block, he's not bulldozing the eyes, not pancaking him, he's just taking care of his block,

Starting point is 00:07:31 that might be a zero on the grading scale. I don't know, you know? And if that is the case, like you're not gonna get boosted for that. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's a better run blocker than those grades kind of indicate, to say the least. But overall, you look at the tight end room now for Kansas. I think Deshaun Hanneke is the guy that you're expecting

Starting point is 00:07:49 to be the starter at this point in time, but could grow and come in with some real experience and challenge him. Yeah, he also has to learn the playbook and you know, tight ends, that is a very difficult position to learn the playbook very quickly because it's not, like the thing about the tight ends is that you were involved in everything.

Starting point is 00:08:04 You have to know all the passing routes. You have to know all the pass protections because sometimes you have to ask block and you have to know all the run protection. So like and you have no motions. The tight ends have to know everything like the quarterbacks do in a lot of ways there, right? So that makes it difficult to get adjusted. So I think Hanukkah is definitely the favorite to start, but this gives you more competition for that second string. And again, like I said earlier, if Leighton Keur ends up being the second string, that's great because that means that you had to beat out more real competition now, right?

Starting point is 00:08:30 Because with Jayden Ham and Carson Bruhn, two young guys who came in as being players that you hoped would turn in something down the road, that still might be the case, but right now they're still young players, especially in the case of Bruhn, who's a retro freshman, and Ham is still a retro sophomore at this point in time. Then you have Quentin Connelly, who's a retro junior, especially in the case of Bruun, who's a redshirt freshman, and Ham is still a redshirt sophomore at this point in time. Then you have Quentin Conley, who's a redshirt junior,

Starting point is 00:08:48 but he's a walk-on. So this gives you more depth. It makes you feel like you, if you do go to those three tight end sets, have three ones you feel a little bit more comfortable about. And Solid Edition 4KU gives them their fifth scholarship tight end. RKU Basketball make another transfer portal edition

Starting point is 00:09:06 with one John Bugs the third. He certainly puts his last name to test with his three point shooting. We're getting into why he would make sense for KU and why I love his three point shooting next. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, as are the NHL playoffs, and every night delivers

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Starting point is 00:10:19 with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA and the Locked On Podcast Network. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks and thank you to Everyday R's catching each and every episode. Thank you if you caught already our earlier Transfer Portal Target Breakdown Deep Dive, whatever you were gonna call it earlier this week. Don't forget, you can check out Lockdown College Basketball

Starting point is 00:10:41 or Lockdown College Football every day as well. Okay, Transfer Portal Target time for KU basketball. That would be John Bugs III. This was reported by Sam, I don't know if it's Kaiser, Kaiser of 247 sports, which is not related with like 24 seven sports. Anyway, whatever, now they're getting to there. He said that Bugs has offers from Kansas, BYU, Utah, SMU,

Starting point is 00:11:07 Wyoming, FIU, and Carl's Charles. Now this was a couple of weeks ago. It's a very interesting list because again, as we've talked about many other times, sometimes these lists that come out, it's like, okay, how real is that offer? Is it based on a backup plan? Is it just, you're boosting up the list

Starting point is 00:11:22 and it didn't actually happen, but the school's not gonna come out and say, no, that didn't happen. Just bad PR for them. You don't entirely know. But I do think it does make some sense for Kansas. I just think it depends. Like the College of Charleston role, if John Bugs goes there is probably to be one of their starting guards and one of their best players, one of their best scores versus if you come to BYU or Kansas, you're looking at more of a specific role being a role player. If you're at Utah, maybe it's more of in between those those two, right? It

Starting point is 00:11:52 depends what school you're going to. So it does make sense that there's different schools. It's just probably different roles for what those would have. So Bugs III, he is a six foot three, 189 pound shooting guard, was most recently at East Tennessee State, but before that he was at North Texas. Before that, he was at UTSA. And yes, before that, he was at Hill College, which is a junior college.

Starting point is 00:12:13 And yes, before that, he was at UMass. So we're talking a lot of schools here, right? We're talking UMass, Hill College, UTSA, North Texas, ETSU. That's five schools for John Buggs there. It's like, how does this guy still have eligibility? Well, the JuCo stuff with Hill College, how does this guy still have eligibility? Well, the juco stuff with Hill College and you know, you take a redshirt year in there, then boom, all of a sudden, you're good to go for

Starting point is 00:12:31 another year, I don't know, COVID year in there, whatever, it we get crazy with this. But bugs is an elite shooter. I think one of the best shooters in the transfer portal and for Kansas team needs more shooting. Okay, makes sense to me, right? So this would be a seventh season of college basketball. And maybe that's what the weight is here too, that he hasn't committed yet.

Starting point is 00:12:51 Maybe he's waiting to get officially like, he has to get it approved that yeah, this year should have been a red shirt or something like that. I don't know. But 11.1 points per game. This was at ETSU, if you lost track of all the schools. 2.3 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, 0.7 steals, 0.1 blocks. So immediately off the bat, you see those stats and you're like,

Starting point is 00:13:09 it's really only scoring. It's really only shooting. But that is the role that Kansas kind of needs off the bench at this point of time. 42% from the floor, 41% from three-point range. So very high efficiency from three-point range. It did it on very high volume. 6.4 three point attempts per game. Shot 74% of the line solid there, but it's only 1.2 attempts per game. He's not getting to the free line very much.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Overall, effective field goal percentage, true shooting percentage are good and solid. It's all because of three point shooting. Now the on off offensive numbers, the team was one point better in offensive news on the floor. They were about five points worse defensively when he was on the floor. So this is an offensive player. This is a shooter.

Starting point is 00:13:47 This is what you would bring him in for, to shoot the basketball. And let me get into why the shooting is so impressive. Because 41%, six and a half attempts per game. That sounds super impressive on its own, but I don't know that fully sells what exactly you're getting here. So what are the strengths for John Boggs and so on? It's the shooting. it's the scoring efficiency, 92nd percentile and three point percentage on an 89th percentile three point attempt rate. Usually the more threes you attempt per game, it's going to

Starting point is 00:14:14 lower your efficiency because teams are going to scout you more teams are going to defend you with their better defenders. More teams are going to try to chase you off the three point line. They might face guard you. They're going to do different things to try to take that away. And also, if you're taking more threes over the course of the game, because of that, you're probably going to end up with some that are longer,

Starting point is 00:14:31 some that are contested, versus the guy who might only take two per game because they might be two wide open ones. They could like DeJuan Harris, right? So automatically impressive there, but shoots it well from all over. 38.2% on above the break threes for John Bug the third. So that's a good number. How about this one? Corner threes. John

Starting point is 00:14:50 Bug's the third. 57.7% on corner threes this past season. Somehow that's only in the 95th percent on nationally. There has to be somebody who went like three for five or something. I don't know. You're also talking about a good mid-range shooter. Wasn't a ton of volume there, but 47%. That was 85th percentile nationally in mid-range shooting. Overall, 90th percentile in effective field goal percentage, 82nd percentile in true shooting percentage. And you might be wondering, okay, well, maybe it's a one game sample or not one, one season

Starting point is 00:15:21 sample in East Tennessee State, albeit an impressive one. What if we go back a year before at North Texas to extend this sample of shooting? And at North Texas, he was in the 98th percentile in true shooting percentage, so it was even better. He was in the 99th percentile in North Texas in three-point attempt rate, and he was in the 99th percentile

Starting point is 00:15:39 in effective field goal percentage. So he was even better shooting the basketball at North Texas the year before. And he can do it, like I said, in a multitude of different ways. It's not just the different zones. He can make them contested. He can make them spotting up.

Starting point is 00:15:51 He was in the 92nd percentile in spot up points per possession at North Texas. Off ball screens, he was in the 92nd percentile there too. In catch and shoot, he was in the 95th percentile at North Texas. And off the dribble, he was literally the best in the country at points per possession when he was with the Mean Green in points per possession off the dribble. And also, here's another strength, his long range three point duty. It's not just the normal threes. No, more feet and made them at a 47% clip.

Starting point is 00:16:33 47% on deep threes. That's 92nd percent on Ashley. So out of comparison, Bugs took 2.0 deep threes per game. CBB Analytics classifies that as 25 plus foot three. So two per game, right? And again, did it at 47%. Ochai Gbaji, who was a first team All-American, was unbelievable shooter for KU, especially his final season. Ochai Gbaji's final season when KU won the title took 1.7 deep threes per game at 40%. So this dude was taking higher volume of deep threes per game at 7% higher from a dude who was a first team All-American. This is not me saying he's better than… no, this is one element of

Starting point is 00:17:17 his game, and it's the only element of his game that you would be bringing him in for realistically, but it's a pretty darn good one that he has the ability to do. And again, not just a one-year thing, 47% from deep threes this past year. What if we go to his year before in North Texas? Yeah, he shot 47.2% on deep threes. This dude is an absolute flame thrower from behind the arc. Doesn't turn the ball over either. He plays off the ball as a low usage option. I mean, 98th percentile turnover rate, 86th percentile assisted turnover rate, and only a 38th percentile usage rate.

Starting point is 00:17:49 Love that too, the idea that he's not just a three-point shooter who has to have the ball in his hands. Because if you're coming to Kansas and you're gonna be the seventh, eighth, ninth man, you gotta be able to play without the ball in his hands. And he does that at a high level. And then even though he's not huge and would be one of KU's smaller players,

Starting point is 00:18:07 at this point, there is a big difference between if you're asking him to play the Diggy Koy role, him being 6'3", versus Diggy Koy who is, I don't know, 5'9", on a good day, right? Which would be a plus for KU. Now you get to the questions though, the defense is a question. 24th percentile in defensive RAPM,

Starting point is 00:18:24 49th percentile in defensive windchairs, 49th percentile in defensive windchairs, 20th percentile in all off defensive rating and 15th percentile in Hakeem rate. I don't know that he's known for being a good defender. In fact, you might be known for being a bad defender. But if you're looking at this specific role, if we're talking about what that role would be the Yekhoi Jelin Coleman will end role, you can get away with that. And I think you have built up enough insulation with the rest of your roster to be okay with that that you need the 3-point shooting.

Starting point is 00:18:48 But anyway, that is not going to be a strength of his game. Also doesn't really do much else, besides shoot threes. 11th percentile free throw temperate doesn't get to the line, doesn't rebound, he's 20th percentile or worse at both the offensive and defensive rebounding rate. And then even though the overall scoring efficiency is good, it's all because of three balls and I guess the mid range too, but like, you know, he was 34th percentile to a point percentage.

Starting point is 00:19:12 So he's not somebody who's gonna score in a myriad of different ways, right? He also continually bounced around. I don't know if that's a real question, but again, he started school in 2019, which good experience, I guess, but he's been at five schools. This will be his sixth. Is that something that you have to worry about in some way? You know, if he's in 2019, which good experience, I guess, but he's been to five schools. This will be his sixth.

Starting point is 00:19:25 Is that something that you have to worry about in some way? You know, if he's at the end of the bench, is that something that is gonna cause problems? Or, you know, Jalen Coleman lands, was that like what? Like four schools before Kansas? And he was a great locker room guy, right? So it doesn't necessarily correlate,

Starting point is 00:19:39 but it is something you have to find out what are the reasonings for that. Now, how exactly would he fit into Kansas? We'll get to that next. This episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Have you ever checked your bank account and wondered where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. And all of a sudden, you might even be doing it with your credit card statement and you're

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Starting point is 00:20:34 That's MonarchMoney.com. Code LOCKEDONCOLLege for half off your first year. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on J-Hawks. Again, don't forget to check out Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball and make sure to subscribe here to Locked on J-Hawks because all your portal news, we've got the NBA draft combine going on this week and certainly plenty of news coming from that that we'll get to here on LOJ. Okay, how would John Buggs III fit in with KU?

Starting point is 00:21:01 I mean, it's very obvious, like we normally do this and we say, okay, what would they add to the team? What would would they add to the team? What would they not add to the team? You would add shooting to the team. What would you not add to the team? I mean, it wouldn't add more defense, but it feels like at this point in time, Kansas has a lot of good defenders on the team. The big question to me is, do they have enough three-point shooting to build around this

Starting point is 00:21:22 roster? And you also, I think at the same point of time, you lost Dege Koy to the transfer portal to Maryland, you know, that Dege Koy, Jalen Coleman lands, Brandon Green, like there's other guys you can talk about here. The player for Bill Self, who is on the fringe, are they a rotation player or are they not, right?

Starting point is 00:21:42 Maybe Bill Self, a specific year, goes to the seven man rotation Maybe it's an eighth man rotation, but he's the guy who's who's right either that seventh or eighth man Or he's that ninth man where it's like You know He might come in and get a shot for five minutes or somebody's not playing well He might play more or if he's playing well off the bench. He might play more right? He's not I would dig you quite you think of the Houston game

Starting point is 00:22:01 He plays like 30 minutes in the Houston game because he's making shots He's played well. Other players are performing up to puck. So Diggy Coyote plays more. Other games where maybe Diggy Coyote starts 0 for 3 and doesn't have an advantage on the defensive end and he's going to only play 8 minutes in that specific game. So the role is going to vary. And that takes the specific guy and his bugs interested in that, where he'd get probably

Starting point is 00:22:23 a decent NIL payday, probably more than a College of Charleston could offer. But at a College of Charleston, and that's just one of his offers, FIU or Wyoming or something, you know, those schools, maybe they don't have as much money to offer in this specific role, but they would have a bigger role to offer. So it's kind of what does he want to do with his final year at college. But from the Kansas perspective, I think he would come in and to me, he would be the best three point shooter on the team. I mean, I think he's one of the best three point shooters

Starting point is 00:22:48 in the country. Like he has an argument for that right now. So I think if he comes in, he's the best three point shooter on the team. I would absolutely love this addition. This would be a definite take for me. This would be a make this happen if you can. And I think the focus right now for Kansas

Starting point is 00:23:02 is obviously trying to wrap up, you know, that one more stun player, that one more possible, you know, star player, so to speak. And I get that. But once you move on past that, and you circle back to filling out the rest of the scholarships and fill out the role guys, this guy would be the top of the list for me, I think,

Starting point is 00:23:19 at this point in time for like a bench guard. If you want another, if you want somebody for that Dean McCoy, Jalen Coleman lands role, I think this should be the guy that I would be kind of looking at there. Because if you're talking about needing more three point shooting, you're not going to get much better than what John Buggs the third breaks. He can do it off the dribble. He can play off ball. He can play low usage. He can do it from deep. He can do it from the corner. He can do it from up top. He can do it from everywhere. He can shoot the three ball. And yes, might not be the best

Starting point is 00:23:42 defensive player you've had, might not add a bunch to the rebounding and the other stuff. But that's why you have these other players who you brought in to be specific role players. You brought in Jaden Dawson to be a good defender and shoot threes. You brought Melvin Council in to be a dog and play good defense. You brought Trey White in to be an athletic wing and get your rebounds. You have Floyd Badunga to block shots and get rebounds. Go out and get a shooter as as well And I would love me some John bugs the third alright that'll do for this episode of locked on Jay Ox You can find your show anywhere you podcast including on our YouTube page. See you next time with L. O. J

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Add Rice Tight End Boden Groen + Bball Transfer Target: John Buggs III Shoots 41% From 3!!!

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